Bizet during his thirty seven year life  wrote six operas that were published as well as eight others that were unpublished or incomplete. His opera The Pearl Fishers was the first to be performed professionally and ran for eighteen performances. It wasn’t until twelve years later with the performances of his opera Carmen that the tide of reputation started to turn for Bizet. However, tragically he died later that year thinking that he had produced another failure.

It is not generally known that Bizet was a formidable pianist and musician. He had something of Liszt’s ability to hear a piece of music and immediately play it back. Bizet was in the audience when Liszt gave a recital announcing that the piece was playable by only two pianist in the world, von Bulow and himself. Bizet was encouraged to go to the piano afterwards and played back the most difficult episode to Liszt, then read the complete work at sight. The startled Liszt declared that there were now three pianists that could play this work, and that the youngest of them (Bizet) was ‘perhaps the cleverest and the most brilliant’.